


What's In A Name?

by Maab_Connor



Category: Leverage, Torchwood
Genre: Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-08
Updated: 2011-09-08
Packaged: 2017-10-23 13:31:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/250830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maab_Connor/pseuds/Maab_Connor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes you just need to talk to someone who gets it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's In A Name?

**Author's Note:**

> **Rating:** pg  
>  **Disclaimer:** I own nothing… no, srsly, nothing. It’s sad really. But then I’m writing this for no profit, so clearly I’m not looking to change that.  
>  **Warning(s):** none, gen, AU  
>  **Spoilers** _Two Live Crew Job_ none for Torchwood, CoE didn’t happen… but I think that was all a nightmare anyway.  
>  **Word Count:** ~1200  
>  **Author's Notes:** this is an AU of the final scene of _The Two Live Crew Job_. There was only one theme from CoE that I liked and I kind of played with it a bit here. And never-ending thanks to my beta and bestie: Morgana. Thank you for keeping me sane.

Sophie had been quiet lately, she never said it out loud, but the whole team knew that the bomb in her apartment had really scared her; that deep-down scared that could make you rethink your life, your mortality.

It was Nate’s idea to take her to the cemetery; to let her say good-bye to Katherine in her own way, to try to bring her back before they lost their Sophie.

The two of them were walking towards the graveside in silence, eyes downcast; Sophie was trying to put her thoughts in order, Nate was trying to think up every reason she wasn’t allowed to leave.

When Sophie gasped, Nate looked up. There was a man in an impeccable suit standing beside the headstone and a hunched figure in a wool great coat kneeling on the grave itself.

“Sir?” the man in the suit said quietly.

Watery blue eyes were on them in a second. Shock registered on the man’s face. Then he jumped to his feet, ran to Sophie and wrapped her in a tight hug.

“I thought-“ he said, his voice breaking off in a sob.

“I’m sorry, Jack, I’m so sorry,” Sophie returned the man’s hard hug. “I didn’t even think. I mean-“

“It’s ok,” he said. He pulled back, tears still freely flowing down his face, he took her face in his hands gently and just looked at her for a moment before leaning in and kissing both of her cheeks and then her lips quickly. “It’s ok. You’re alive, you’re fine. Oh thank god.” He pulled her into another hug.

Nate gave an awkward smile to the other man, clearly they both felt like they were intruding on something personal. The other man was holding a bunch of daisies in his hand. The young man took a half a step forward and extended his hand. “Ianto Jones.”

“Nathan Ford,” Nate returned, noting the man’s British accent. “So… you guys know Sophie?”

“Oh, god I’m sorry,” Sophie pulled away from Jack’s strong hug. She was crying gently and batted the tears away with a bit of annoyance. “Jack Harkness, this is Nate. Nate, Jack.”

“Nice to meet you,” even with tears in his eyes, Jack’s smile was bright and his handshake was strong.

“I didn’t think you knew about Katherine, or I would have called, I swear I would have,” Sophie apologized to Jack.

“There was a picture,” Jack explained. “With the obit.”

“I didn’t even think of that.”

“It’s ok,” Jack said. He reached out and wiped away a single tear Sophie had tracking down her cheek with his large thumb.

“Actually, you got here fast.”

“UNIT thing in New York three days ago,” Jack explained. “You know I can’t resist those hot little berets. I even took one as a souvenir.” Dark eyebrows danced quickly.

“I’m not wearing it, Jack,” Ianto said dryly.

Jack turned with a smile. “You will.”

Sophie just laughed. “I don’t know how you put up with him.” She offered her hand to the other man. “Sophie Devereaux.”

“Ianto Jones,” he said with a smile and he handed her the flowers. “These are for you.”

“My favorite, thank you.”

“Jack mentioned.”

“Well I knew that he didn’t get them.”

“Hey!” Jack challenged. “I bring flowers.”

“Not to graves,” Sophie said quietly.

“She’s right,” Ianto said, nodding, “you bring stones to graves.”

Sophie leaned in and put her hand into the pocket of Jack’s great coat, pulling out a small, smooth piece of granite. She smiled sadly and walked over to the headstone. She laid the rock down on top. “I liked Katherine,” she said softly.

Before Nate could think of what to say, Jack had moved in and put an arm around her shoulders. “From the obit, she sounded great.”

Sophie just nodded.

“I say we go out and raise a glass to her,” Jack said gently. “To all those parts of ourselves, our heart, who we leave behind as we go on our path.”

Something relaxed a bit in Sophie’s stomach. She should have known Jack would understand. “My best friends don’t know me,” she blurted. “They call me Sophie. And she’s who they know. She’s who they love. What do I do when it’s Sophie in an empty grave?” Tears fell freely now and she stepped away from Jack’s arm and wrapped her own around herself.

Jack nodded. “Ianto knows me better than anyone else in the universe ever has, with the exception of the Doctor and Rose, and I think sometimes even better than they did. He calls me Jack. He says it when he’s mad at me or when I’m annoying him or when there’s someone aiming a gun at me. He says it when someone is on the phone for me, and when he needs help finding a file and when the tea’s ready, and when we’re making love. Jack. Captain Jack Harkness. That name doesn’t change what all of those mean. That name doesn’t change who I am.”

“But it does!” Sophie shouted. “You weren’t who you are until you were Captain Jack Harkness.”

“That’s only because that’s the name I was using when I met the Doctor and Rose. Don’t you get it? If it had been Benjamin Robert Johnson or First Lieutenant Huckleberry Flannigan; I would still be _me_. Baby, it’s the journey that counts, not the label.”

“Easy for you to say!” she challenged. “You hate all labels. Animal, vegetable, mineral, who cares? I CARE!”

Jack seemed to deflate a bit. “She’s not gone. _You_ are not gone. You are right here. And whatever it is that has you so mixed up right now, you need to realize that it didn’t die with that name. It wasn’t buried in that empty grave,” he waved vaguely at the tombstone. “You created the cover, but the personality? You can’t create that, it has to come from inside you. At least for the long jobs. Short jobs… hell you can do anything for a week or two. But a deep cover, the way she was? It has to be you.” He pulled her to him and held her tightly. “You’re right here, my beautiful baby girl.”

She clung to him and just sobbed into his strong shoulder.

Jack realized that Ianto –bless him – had lead Nate away. He was free to talk. “I remember the day you were born,” he said. “Your mom was cursing more than anyone I’ve ever met.”

Sophie’s laugh was wet and muffled by the wool of his coat, but it was there.

“She had a mouth on her. I think that’s what first drew me to her. She was all spit and polish when you were across the room, but in her life? She was wild and alive. You get that from her. The clothes fetish is all me. As is falling for inappropriate men. I apologize.”

She was laughing genuinely now. “Thanks for coming, dad.”

“I have buried too many loved ones. I’m glad you’re not joining them.” He kept his arms around her. “I haven’t had a proper cuddle from you since you were fourteen.”

“Con artists don’t cuddle with daddy.”

“Nonsense. Of course we do. Granted, it’s usually wildly inappropriate and not your _actual_ father…”

Her laugh now was loud and wild and free. She shifted in his grip so that they were side-by-side and they started to walk. She felt so much steadier with her father’s arm around her. “I think I need to leave,” she said after a while. “I think I’ve lost myself.”

“I did some research on the way up here. You’re with a team now.”

She nodded. “I am, and they’re great. You’ll meet them later.”

“I look forward to it. Can I tell embarrassing baby stories? Like the strained peas?”

“Don’t you dare.”

He laughed gently and kissed the top of her head just because he could. “The thing about a team, especially a good team, is that… they start to become part of who you are. And after reading about what you guys have been doing… I think that you should stay.”

“And if I just… just disappear?”

“Baby, I don’t think that you’re running because you think you’re lost. I think you’d be running because you worry you’re found. You work a job you love, with a team you love and you’re making a difference. It changes you. It gets inside of you and flips a switch and makes you different. But it’s not lost. Sophie makes a difference. She’s like Jack in that.”

“I missed you, dad.”

“I stayed away too long. I’m sorry.”

“I pushed you out.”

“You were a teenager.”

“Don’t be such a stranger?”

“I’ll make sure you have my mobile before Ianto and I head out. Now, come on, we’re going to go have a wake for a promising young actress who died too soon.”


End file.
